


We Knew that We Were Destined to Explode

by HMSLusitania



Series: Time-Bomb [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: But its secret, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, just so much it's gross, no beta we die like men, the 118 made a bet and the boys make them suffer for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 23:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30113430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMSLusitania/pseuds/HMSLusitania
Summary: The 118 made a bet on exactly when Buck and Eddie were going to get together. Just because they had the premise right doesn't mean the boys aren't gonna make them sweat it for a while first.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: Time-Bomb [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2196924
Comments: 46
Kudos: 359
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	We Knew that We Were Destined to Explode

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! Sorry this took so much longer than I intended it to. True story, this is the second version I wrote. The first version, I realised I was going to have to tag for gaslighting in the very real way and decided I did not want to go that route, and then life happened, and so now, here we are weeks later. 
> 
> As with the first part, the title is from the song Time-Bomb by All Time Low, which is far more dramatic than this fic warrants but it's 9-1-1 and so, eh.

The night they got together was the first of four consecutive days off for both of them and Eddie is beyond grateful for this. They get to spend all day Saturday and Sunday hanging out with Chris and all night, well…

“Why,” Eddie starts at some point on Sunday night that may actually be Monday morning, “is your mattress so much more comfortable than mine?”

“I have better taste,” Buck says, stretching on Eddie’s inferior mattress and then draping himself across Eddie’s chest. “I mean, look at who I’m dating.”

Eddie can’t decide on the correct reaction. It’s a mix between being flattered and wanting to scold him a little because Eddie’s boyfriend is _incredibly_ hot, thank you very much.

He settles for wrapping his arms around Buck’s shoulders and holding him close while he tries – and fails – to become comfortable on his own mattress. He never had issues with it, not once in all the years he’s lived in LA, and now he’s pretty sure it’s the worst bed anyone ever made.

Three days together while it’s still a complete secret just for them is way too soon to suggest they move Buck’s mattress into Eddie’s superior room and, hey, while they’re at it, all of Buck’s clothes too.

“So, are we gonna tell people when we go to work on Tuesday?” Buck asks, sounding sleepy.

Eddie kind of wants to find a megaphone and shout it from the rooftops, and he says as much, which earns him a very pleased kiss.

“But I’m still a little annoyed with them about the bet,” he adds.

“We should make Hen give us all the money because we were obviously the real winners here.”

Eddie agrees with that assessment wholeheartedly and kisses Buck again. At this rate, they’re still going to be awake in a few hours when they have to get up and get Chris ready for school.

He tries to doze off, thinking about appropriate levels of revenge. It’s not like they can bet on everyone else’s relationships; they were the only singles in their entire family. But they could –

“Oh, I just had an idea,” he says.

“Hmm?” Buck asks, most of his face buried in Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie’s a little concerned about how well he can breathe, but Buck’s not dumb enough to suffocate himself like that.

“To get back at them for betting on us,” Eddie says.

Buck hums again.

“We’d have to keep straight faces for the duration though,” Eddie says, which is going to be the most difficult part. Probably.

“Yeah, so, we just spent three days in bed together, I don’t think anything either of us do from here on out will ever count as straight again,” Buck says.

Eddie bursts out laughing and Buck claps a hand over his mouth before he can wake Christopher up. Chris wandering into Eddie’s room in the dead of night because he heard them laughing is not how they want to tell Chris about their relationship.

“Point taken,” Eddie says when Buck removes his hand. “So let’s call it a poker face, instead.”

Buck gives him a wary look, and Eddie knows it’s because Buck is notoriously bad at bluffing, but he has faith in him.

“So what’s your idea?” Buck asks.

* * *

They wait until after they pick Christopher up from school on Monday to tell him. Buck is on board with the plan Eddie cooked up, it seems like completely suitable revenge, but they’re going to need backup from a couple people, and Chris is one of them. It’s the part Buck is most nervous about, because this is the part with no take backs. If they tell Chris and Chris doesn’t like it, doesn’t like them…it’s fine, Buck’s entire world will just fall apart around him, but that’s happened before and he was more or less fine after he took a few years to be broken.

“How was school?” Eddie asks Chris, glancing at him in the rear-view mirror.

“It was fine,” Chris says. “My English teacher doesn’t do the voices right, though.”

“No?” Buck asks.

“You do the voices right,” Chris tells him, giving him a big grin that allays some of Buck’s nerves.

When they get back to the house, Buck gets Chris a snack while Eddie starts him on homework. Eddie is leaning over Chris’s shoulder to check what he’s working on and Buck wants to kiss him. The hickey Buck left on Eddie’s neck that first night has faded enough that it won’t be obvious at work tomorrow, pretty easy to explain away as necessary.

“Hey buddy, can we talk to you about something?” Eddie asks Chris when Buck sets the plate of carrot and celery sticks down on the table.

“Is it something serious?” Chris asks.

“Kinda,” Eddie says and Chris looks up between them with a wrinkle in his brow.

“But it’s probably happy, too?” Buck says before Chris can get upset. God, he hopes this counts as happy news. Chris had liked Ana well enough, but Buck also can’t get the moment of Chris showing up at his house after ordering himself an Uber because he’s afraid of people leaving him out of his head.

“Okay,” Chris says, but he’s clearly still wary.

“So you know how I was dating Ana,” Eddie says. Chris’s wary look goes nowhere while he nods. “She and I are still friends, but she isn’t my girlfriend anymore.”

Buck isn’t sure how true the “still friends” label is, but that’s a later conversation. One without Christopher around.

“Oh,” Chris says. He looks back down at his drawing. “She dumped you.”

Buck doesn’t mean to snort a laugh, and he claps a hand over his mouth as soon as it’s out, but Eddie still shoots him a vicious look that makes him laugh harder. Chris smiles down at his paper just a little.

“Yeah,” Eddie admits. “She did.”

“Was it because of me?” Chris asks.

Buck abruptly stops laughing.

“No, buddy, it was absolutely not because of you,” Buck promises. He almost goes to hug Chris, but decides he’d probably be better off outside of kicking range just in case. At least until after the full explanation.

“It was because she realised I was in love with someone else, even before I did,” Eddie says, and Buck’s entire chest aches.

Chris looks up at his dad with a reproachful look on his face. “You’re going to have a different girlfriend?”

“Not quite,” Eddie says, looking over at Buck.

“It’s, uh, it’s me, actually,” Buck says.

Chris’s gaze snaps over to him so fast Buck’s a little concerned about whiplash.

“Really?” Chris asks.

“Yep,” Buck says.

Chris doesn’t say anything, but he gets out of his chair and walks over to Buck. Buck is still bracing himself, just a little, for a kick in the shins or something, but of course it doesn’t come. Chris puts his arms around Buck’s waist instead, hugging him. Buck hugs him back and looks over at Eddie. Eddie is beaming and his eyes are shining just a little.

“So you’re going to stay forever?” Chris asks him. Of course it’s what he wants to know, Buck thinks, because the thing the three of them have in common aside from loving each other is abandonment issues.

“That’s the idea,” Buck says.

Chris cheers and Buck thinks his heart is going to burst.

“There’s one other thing,” Eddie says, running his finger under his eyes before Chris can see him be all teary-eyed and get the wrong idea.

Chris looks between them, still leaning against Buck’s side.

“You’re the only person who knows yet,” Eddie says.

“And the thing is, we’re gonna play a bit of a prank on everyone else,” Buck says.

“Can I help?” Chris asks and they both laugh.

“We’re counting on you, little man,” Eddie says.

* * *

It isn’t overly difficult to get a picture of everyone’s official bet the next time they’re at the station. Buck distracts Hen and Eddie sneaks into her bunk and finds the betting box. He takes quick pictures of her ledger for the bet on them and returns to the loft before anyone notices he was gone. When he looks over the list that night – it’s been calm for about an hour so they’ve all run for their bunks to try and sleep while they can – he’s surprised by how many people have bets out. It’s not just Bobby, Hen, Chimney, and Maddie. Carla has money on them, and so do Josh and Michael and Albert and, unbelievably, TK from the Austin 126.

Eddie can just guess how that one happened. TK asked Hen if he and Buck were together and her response had been something to the effect of “Not yet, want to make a bet?”

Eddie texts the list to Buck, which feels stupid since he’s in the next bunk, but oh well.

He gets a text back almost immediately that just says, “TK???”

Eddie laughs and puts his phone down to try and get some sleep before they’re inevitably woken because someone’s fallen off a bunk bed and onto an inopportune cucumber or whatever bullshit story they’ll give.

It’s three in the morning when the bell goes, and it’s a loft bed not a bunk, and an honest fall onto coffee table.

They don’t get back to sleep after that, since they have back to back calls until they get off at eight. They don’t stay for coffee at the station, however much they might like to, so that they don’t miss Chris before he has to go to school. He’s as delighted to see them as ever and Eddie loves his kid so much.

Carla offers to take him to school on her way home since they’re both tired enough they probably shouldn’t be driving and they take her up on the offer.

They take a quick nap together that turns readily into sex once they wake up, since they’d just spent twenty-four-hours without touching each other, and then they start planning in earnest.

By the time Chris gets home from school, they have an entire plan of attack. It just depends on their friends doing exactly what they expect them to.

* * *

Bobby is making dinner for the station when Eddie finds him. Down in the engine bay, he can hear Chim, Hen, and Buck laughing about something, but Eddie looks more like he’s going to fall apart. And Bobby can’t stand to see that.

“What’s wrong?” he asks. He wonders if maybe Buck told him about the bet. But no, Eddie wouldn’t look like _this_ if he knew about the bet.

“I, uh, I need your help,” Eddie says.

“Of course, anything,” Bobby says.

Eddie gives him a weak smile. “You know how you’re always telling me it’s okay to move on, and to be happy?”

“Yes,” Bobby says slowly. “I thought you were dating?”

Eddie nods. “I was, but, uh…”

“Didn’t work out?” Bobby asks.

Eddie shakes his head.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Bobby says, and tries to sound like he means it even though, well, he does kind of have money on these boys getting their shit together by the end of the week.

“Thing is, I think I figured out what I want and what would make me happy, but I have no idea how to get it,” Eddie says. Down in the engine bay, Buck laughs loudly and Eddie reacts to it like a struck tuning fork. Something of this understanding must show on Bobby’s face because when he realises what he’s done, Eddie slumps a little. “That obvious?”

“I do know you both pretty well,” Bobby says to be kind, because it is painfully obvious to anyone who spends more than fifteen minutes with them.

“Do you think I even have a shot?” Eddie asks.

“Yeah,” Bobby says. “Yeah, I do.”

“So what do I…do?” Eddie asks, just a hint of desperation in his voice.

Bobby thinks about it for a second, and comes up with a pretty decent plan if he does say so himself. If it just so happens to coincide with the day he’s got on the bet, then, well, it’s a friendly coincidence. He and Athena invite Chris over for a slumber party with Harry – and Denny for good measure – and when he goes to pick Chris up, he also delivers a perfect home cooked meal directly to Eddie.

“Just be honest about your feelings,” Bobby recommends.

Eddie looks nervous, but nods and thanks him.

Bobby spends his evening in the back yard with the three boys attempting to teach them constellations for all that they can’t really see the sky in LA, and hopes for the best when he gets to work the next morning. He can already tell it hasn’t worked the second he sees Buck and Eddie. Nothing has changed between them since he last saw them, and when he catches Eddie’s eye, he shakes his head, just a little ashamed.

Even though he’s now officially lost the bet, Bobby is much more upset on their behalf than he is for himself. He just hopes someone else will have better luck.

* * *

(With the night off from parenting and the subsequent empty house Bobby provided them with, they didn’t actually get to Bobby’s home cooked meal until around two in the morning. They explain Eddie’s neck away as an inopportune impact with the coffee table while they were bickering over video game controllers, and the stubble burn on Buck’s face as a bad reaction to a new aftershave.)

* * *

They’re having poker night – one of the last they know for sure they’ll get before the baby’s born – and Chimney is not drinking in solidarity. Josh and Buck are therefore drinking enough for both him and Maddie, which just makes Buck’s already tragic poker face worse.

Maddie has just cleaned Buck out entirely when he breaks down in comical, drunken weeping.

“Oh, Buck, I’ve always told you that your poker face is terrible,” Maddie says, patting him comfortingly on the hand. Chimney is pretty sure she couldn’t look _less_ sympathetic if she tried.

“It’s not that,” Buck says, sniffing. “I just – I love him so much and I don’t know how to tell him.”

He’s staring dejectedly down at his beer bottle so he doesn’t notice the looks Maddie, Chimney, and Josh exchange.

“Who’s ‘he’?” Josh asks, slow.

Eddie knows about the bet. They know Eddie knows about the bet. Buck, on the other hand…

“Eddie,” Buck says, miserable.

Chimney opens his mouth to say something – his bet has them figuring themselves out in two weeks – but Josh cuts him off. Josh’s bet is for much sooner. Chimney doesn’t remember the exact date, but he thinks it’s this coming weekend.

“Okay, when you’re sober,” Josh says, which is a bit rich since he’s as drunk as Buck. “You just tell him exactly that. That you love him and you couldn’t figure out how to tell him, and when he inevitably swoons because a smoking hot firefighter is telling him that, you kiss him.”

“ _He’s_ a smoking hot firefighter,” Buck protests. And Maddie and Chimney both giggle.

“Yes, and you both live rent free in my head,” Josh says. Chimney wonders how much he’s going to regret that comment – if Buck actually remembers it. “Tomorrow, when you’ve slept this off, you’ve just gotta do it.”

“Or!” Maddie says, because she’s still got a month left before she wins. “You could take it a little slower, do some reconnaissance, figure out where he’s at, emotionally.”

Buck nods slowly and blinks at them both, just a little glassy eyed, which Chimney takes as a good sign it’s time to put him in an Uber and send him back to Eddie.

* * *

(The next morning, when he’s not too aggressively hungover, Buck does tell Eddie that he’s in love with him, and Eddie does swoon, and Buck does kiss him. And they spend a bit too much time making out in the kitchen before Chris wakes up and informs them that they are “gross.”)

* * *

Over the next few shifts they’ve got together, Chimney keeps an eye out for any signs that Buck and Eddie have figured themselves out. Unfortunately, they are still exactly themselves. They have no regard for personal space, they spend all their time making puppy-dog heart-eyes at each other, and it’s honestly just a little sickening. And then the day Chimney has on the bet comes up, while they’re all on shift together, and so he does the sensible thing and locks them in the supply closet together.

“Chimney?” Eddie calls from inside, a little alarmed.

“Oh, god, guys, I’m so sorry,” Chimney says, not sorry in the slightest. “I forgot this one auto locks.”

“If we die inhaling cleaning supplies, I’m going to haunt you so much,” Buck replies.

“Give me a sec, I’ll go find the key!” Chimney says.

He heads down the hallway, twirling the janitorial keyring around his finger and not quite whistling. He finds Hen and Bobby at the end of the hall, watching. Hen has her arms folded and her eyebrow raised and looks exceptionally unimpressed. Bobby is trying not to laugh.

“What?” Chimney asks, meeting Hen’s judgement with flippancy. She’s still got another month and a half before she wins. “Something needed to be done.”

“Seven minutes in heaven?” Bobby asks. “Really?”

“Sometimes you’ve gotta go with the classics!” Chimney says. “I’ll let them out before our next call.”

But to his chagrin, when he does let them out at the next bell, they both just look annoyed. He sighs about it to Maddie when he gets home and she’s not quite as sympathetic as he’d like.

“Hey,” she says, clearly trying for comfort but missing it with an overdose of smug. “At least when I win, it’s still money coming directly back to our family.”

“I guess,” Chimney says, but he still sulks about it for a few days.

* * *

(Buck has a ladder of bruises from the supply room shelves up his back for the next week and a half and there’s an unfixable stretch in the polyester of Eddie’s uniform shirt where Buck had been holding him close, and they agree that in the future, they absolutely cannot touch each other at the station or they’re going to snap and ruin it before they’ve screwed everyone out of their bets.

“We are, literally, screwing them out of their bets,” Buck says with a very mature snicker.

Eddie kisses him silent.)

* * *

Maddie tries for the cute coincidence, accidental date type set up. Eddie knows about the bet, even if Buck doesn’t, and now they’ve all heard Buck’s love confession, so it’s just a matter of getting it through their heads that it’s mutual. She tells Chimney as much and now that he’s officially lost the bet, he’s on board with helping her plan.

“It’ll be our last dinner out before the baby,” Maddie says to Buck when she pitches the idea. “Bring Eddie, we’ll make a night of it!”

Buck does bring Eddie, and because it’s a fancy restaurant, they’ve even dressed nicely. Maddie doesn’t know when or where Buck learned to tie a tie – she certainly never had the opportunity to teach him – but he’s clearly taken her suggestion seriously. If Eddie is at all confused why he’s included in this outing, he doesn’t show it, but Maddie definitely catches him looking at Buck a few times like he appreciates the effort he went through to get dressed up.

They order drinks and when the waitress comes back to take their food orders, Maddie winces and puts a hand on her belly.

“Maddie?” Buck asks, instantly alert. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Maddie says. “She’s just dancing and it’s pretty uncomfortable.”

Even though she hadn’t been before Maddie said it, her daughter takes this opportunity to tap out a jig of some sort on Maddie’s kidneys that makes the idea of eating deeply unpleasant.

“Uh, you know, I think I need to go lie down,” she says, standing up.

Chimney follows suit, already grabbing her bag for her.

“Should we—” Buck starts, standing as well. Eddie is moving like he’s going to get up too, but Maddie waves them both down.

“No, no, you guys stay,” she says. “Enjoy your dinner. You both got so dressed up, you shouldn’t waste the opportunity to be admired.”

At that, they finally seem to notice that the majority of the people at the surrounding tables have been sneaking glances at the two of them, as have the passers-by.

They flush, but keep to their seats and ask for a call with Maddie’s status update once she and Chimney get home. Maddie promises to give it, and they leave the restaurant. On their way out, Maddie pre-emptively gives her payment information to the maître-d’ to cover the cost of Buck and Eddie’s dinner date.

“Really?” Chimney asks when they get home. “Faking a baby emergency to get out of the double date?”

He sounds amused.

“I didn’t fake an emergency,” Maddie says. “She is dancing. Feel.”

Chimney puts his hands on her belly and then laughs. “I think she just headbutted me.”

Maddie laughs too and then her uterus seizes. She gasps and grabs onto Chimney’s arm.

“What?” he asks.

“I – I think that was a contraction,” she says.

Chimney goes pale and grabs the go bag, slinging it over his shoulder and already staring at his watch to time them. Maddie’s heart swells with absolute love for him, and then another contraction hits.

“They could still be Braxton-Hicks,” Maddie says, trying to breathe while Chimney stares at his watch.

“Sure, they could,” he agrees.

And then her water breaks.

“Okay, hospital,” Chimney says, ushering her out of their apartment. He gets her buckled into the car and she tries to breathe as normally as possible, which is definitely not working. “You know this is karma, right?”

“Shut up and drive,” Maddie snaps back at him, but yeah. She does know.

“I can’t believe your perfect plan for winning the bet is going to be lost because of our daughter’s excellent timing,” Chimney says, heading towards the hospital.

“You thought it was a perfect plan?” Maddie asks, and can feel herself tearing up just a little. She knew, intellectually, that the hormones she’d be hit with when she went into labour would be beyond anything she’d ever experienced, but this is a little ridiculous.

Chimney just grins at her.

* * *

(They’re feeding each other bites of tiramisu in the most obnoxious way possible when Buck’s phone rings to tell him that Maddie and Chimney had not made it home safe and were in fact going to the hospital to have their baby. They take the rest of the tiramisu to go and eat it in the hospital parking lot in the back of Eddie’s truck, even though Albert steals at least half of it, along with the thermos of coffee Hen brings and the comfortable camping chairs Bobby provides. They sort of expect Chimney to crack and just demand to know if Maddie’s ploy worked while he paces the length of their row of the parking lot, anxiously staring at his phone for news, but he doesn’t. Buck is pretty sure that, in this instance, if he’d asked, they would’ve admitted it. Eddie is, too, but they don’t talk about it.)

* * *

With Chim on paternity leave, Eddie is riding in the ambulance with Hen. She thinks it’s probably the perfect time to try and help the boys get themselves together. She and Karen could use that cash, it’s true, but mostly, she just hates being wrong.

But Eddie is frustratingly obtuse. He says he’s not dating Ana Flores anymore, but when Hen asks if he’s planning on dating anyone new, he just says he’s got a plan. He won’t share what that plan is and Hen is pretty sure she’s going to go crazy.

They’re on a call for a possible heart attack at an open house when she finally considers snapping.

They’ve got the real estate agent checked out – not a heart attack, an anxiety attack because she apparently _has_ to sell this house or she’s going to lose her job and the people she was showing it to had walked out – and she’s going to be fine.

But the entire time they’re in the house, Buck and Eddie keep looking around it curiously. Like they’re interested.

“You know, our lease is almost up,” Eddie says while Buck examines the kitchen that fills the centre of the house’s great room.

“There’s a really great park nearby for kids,” the real estate agent says, pulling the oxygen mask away from her face. “Good schools! If you’ve got kids!”

“They do,” Hen supplies and Buck flushes while Eddie laughs a little.

“Eddie’s got a son,” Buck says. “I’m just the…roommate.”

“Don’t let Chris hear you say that,” Eddie replies.

Hen is going to wring both their necks.

Once Buck and Eddie have collected the real estate agent’s contact information – _so they can come back when they’re not working and actually look at buying an entire goddamn house together, platonically –_ Hen and Eddie get into the ambulance.

They make it maybe five minutes in stone cold silence before Hen breaks.

“Eddie? You remember when you asked me if you pinged my gaydar?” she asks.

“I did figure that one out. Definitely bi,” he says, which is sweet and all, but definitely not her point.

“Buying a house with your platonic best friend who is helping you raise your son? Is really fucking gay,” Hen says.

She doesn’t know if she’s surprised or concerned when Eddie’s response is to laugh instead of blush.

“I promise we will be on our best communication behaviour,” he says and Hen has no idea what to do with that.

Especially when they show up to the next shift with a stack of paperwork they have to go through because they are, in fact, purchasing a house together. And nothing about their relationship has changed, which means Hen has definitely lost the bet.

“I don’t even know what to do with them anymore,” Hen tells Chimney and Bobby when they take Chimney out for his first post-parenthood coffee date. Athena has taken Maddie to the spa while the tiny baby has been left in the care of her uncles (and Carla, for supervision). 

“You don’t think they maybe _are_ together and just forgot to tell us, do you?” Chimney asks.

“No,” Bobby says, confident. “Are you kidding? Eddie might be able to keep it to himself, but this is Buck we’re talking about.”

Hen and Chim have to agree with that one.

“In that case?” Hen says. “We’re going to have to stage an intervention.”

* * *

(“This is insane, right?” Buck asks, wiggling his niece’s toes for her.

“I mean, probably?” Eddie agrees. “But it’s equidistant from the station and Chris’s school, and think how fun it’s gonna be to watch everyone freak out while we buy a house together, as friends.”

“But it’s not moving too fast?” Buck asks, which Eddie thinks is not a remotely fair question to ask when he’s cuddling a month-old baby and looks like _that._

“Hell, I married the last person I slept with, so buying a house is basically tame,” Eddie says.

“Don’t swear in front of the baby!” Buck whispers.

“Buck, she’s a month old.”

Buck just fixes him with a narrow-eyed stare.

“Do _you_ think it’s moving too fast?” Eddie asks.

Buck snorts. “No, but I’m also not known for, like, sensible judgement calls and one of us needs to be the rational, adult one.”

Eddie considers his own track record for sensible, staid judgement calls and then Buck’s and decides silence might be the better option. Buck, who has clearly been doing the same evaluation, groans.

“Oh, yeah, we’re definitely fucked, aren’t we?” he says.

Eddie gasps, mock-dramatic. “Buck! Don’t swear in front of the baby!”

Buck groans, annoyed with himself, but interrupts Eddie’s laughter with a kiss.)

* * *

Carla just doesn’t know what to make of this. The boys’ new house is closer to hers, so at least it’s convenient. They were living together for months before this, and they’re, well, _them_ , but she’s still absolutely shocked that they’ve managed to get this far into a full-blown relationship without seeming to realise it.

They haven’t unpacked everything by the time Carla spends her first night there. The boys are on a 24 and so Carla’s staying with Chris and helping him unbox all of his toys. They get most of them organised and then it’s time for bed. Chris is brushing his teeth while Carla starts making up the couch but he wanders away from the sink to stare at her with a frown on his face. When she catches it, he ducks right back into the bathroom.

Carla doesn’t ask, although her curiosity is piqued, and instead she tucks him in and turns his lights out. The Buckley-Diaz house has three bedrooms – two standard rooms with a bathroom between them, and one master. Carla had half-expected Eddie and Buck to take the two single rooms and give Chris the master, but they have not.

She tries not to snoop.

But the second bedroom door isn’t quite shut and so it’s not really prying to nudge it open with her toe.

It’s empty.

There’s a disassembled bedframe and a mattress leaning against the wall, and there are boxes labelled things like “Taxes” and “Legal documents.” The sorts of things you’d store in a guest room closet. There’s nothing in the room that says it belongs to Buck. There’s nothing in the room that says it belongs to Eddie. They’ve spent four nights in this house.

The only reason Carla is able to keep herself from bursting out laughing is because she doesn’t want to wake Chris.

* * *

(Carla is waiting for them when they get home with a knowing smirk on her face and Buck knows they’ve been made. He’s not really surprised, but he is glad when she pulls them both into a tight hug and tells them she’s happy for them. They agree readily when she says she’ll keep their secret as long as they cut her in on the betting pool.

“When are you going to tell everyone?” she asks. “You know they’re all going to be so happy for you guys, right?”

“Yeah, but we found out about the bet,” Buck says.

“And so we’re going to tell them once we’re past the point where they all lost,” Eddie says. “There’s only like a week left.”

“They had faith in you,” Carla tells them, and Buck glances at Eddie only to find him looking back. It warms Buck’s heart.

“Some more than others,” Buck says, because he’s seen the list. And it had also included the dates everyone _made_ those bets.

Carla shakes her head fondly, kisses them each on the cheek, and heads home. Buck resolves to make sure to get the guest room set up properly before their next overnight shift so that Carla doesn’t have to sleep on their couch again.)

* * *

“This is excessive, even for them,” Athena says, helping Bobby carry the feast he’s made to the trunk.

“That’s why we’re staging an intervention,” Bobby says. Because her husband is predictable, he’s decided that the best way to stage an intervention of this nature for Buck and Eddie is to bring an entire mess of food to their new house for their housewarming party.

“I still think you guys are being weird about it,” May says. “Do you even have proof they like each other that way?”

“I’m just glad Christopher’s gonna be closer so we can have more playdates,” Harry says. Athena never really thought Harry would be the more sensible of her children, but she knows well enough by now that people surprise you every day.

“Yeah, May, we do have proof,” Bobby says, closing the trunk and shepherding the family into the car. “Eddie told me, and Buck told your mother.”

“Oh,” May says. “So they’re just…idiots.”

Athena hums in agreement.

They’re among the first to arrive, since they do live pretty close by now, and they get Harry’s help to carry in exactly one dish before he and Christopher disappear to the backyard together. When Hen, Karen, and the kids turn up a few moments later, Denny immediately joins them. It’s for the best, Athena thinks, because there’s no way Buck or Eddie would want any of the kids listening in on this conversation.

Buck and Bobby get all the food set up on a dining table long enough to seat every member of the extended 118 family and Athena is heartened to see the piece of furniture. The boys have clearly made an effort to make their new house as suitable as possible for the full family. It’ll be perfect, as soon as they pull their heads out of their asses.

Maddie and Chimney are the last to arrive. After everyone has a minute to coo over the baby, Maddie announces that she needs a nap, and allows Buck to take her away and get her tucked in safely in what is presumably his room.

Baby asleep and the boys outside playing, Nia chasing after them as best she can, it’s time to get down to business. Buck and Eddie are relatively quick to realise that their entire family are trying to corner them and they obediently take a seat on their couch. Because they’re Buck and Eddie, they don’t leave a reasonable gap between themselves. Their shoulders are pressed together and their knees are touching, but they keep their hands neatly folded in their own laps.

“Buck, Eddie,” Maddie starts. “We wanted to talk to you both about something, and we want you to know it comes entirely from a place of love.”

“And exasperation,” Chimney pipes up but Maddie elbows him.

“Sure, what’s up?” Eddie asks, guileless.

Athena is the only one who sees the corner of Buck’s mouth twitch.

_Oh._

_My._

_God._

She doesn’t burst out laughing, but it is a very, very close call. She’s honestly too proud to be annoyed with them.

“Buck,” Bobby starts. “I know it came as something of a shock to you when you found out that we at the 118 had placed a bet on the two of you dating—”

“Wait,” Hen interrupts. “Buck knew about the bet?”

On the couch, Buck and Eddie are struggling to keep straight faces. When Athena makes eye contact with them, all three of them nearly break, but they all hold it together for the moment.

“Yeah, Athena told him,” Bobby says. He’s frowning at Hen. “Why? Did—”

“We accidentally told Eddie about it,” Maddie says.

“Hang on, if they both knew—” Chimney starts.

On the couch, Buck and Eddie relax. Buck’s hand falls comfortably to Eddie’s thigh and Eddie’s arm drapes casually around his shoulders. As every other jaw in the room falls slack, Athena finally laughs.

“Come on guys,” Buck says. “You didn’t _seriously_ think we were this oblivious, did you?”

“I think they did,” Eddie stage whispers and kisses him. Athena hasn’t stopped laughing. She knows exactly when this started, she’s sure of it. It was within hours of Buck figuring out he was in love with Eddie at her dining room table.

They’ve been together for two and a half months and managed to keep it a secret.

“I can’t believe you kept this from us!” Maddie says, hands on her hips.

“Thank you all, so much, for your date suggestions,” Buck says. “And Maddie, thanks for paying for dinner that night.”

“And Bobby, we promise the only time we’ve violated HR standards at the station was when Chimney locked us in the cleaning supply closet,” Eddie adds.

“You bastards!” Chimney says. “So I did win the bet?”

“Actually, none of you did,” Buck says, smug.

“How do you know?” Hen asks.

“Because we saw your list,” Eddie says. “And none of you had it right.”

“And we, clearly, are the real winners here,” Buck says. This time when they kiss, it’s less to prove a point than it is just for the sake of it, and Athena is so happy for them her heart could burst.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Bobby asks, and Athena can hear the tiny prickle of hurt in his voice. The entire 118 is a family, and they’ve become Athena’s family too, but Buck is Bobby’s son in everything but blood.

“We were a little annoyed about the bet,” Eddie says.

“They had a whole bet on whether or not I’d even make it at the 118 when I first moved out here,” Bobby says. 

“Yeah, but you knew about that as it was happening,” Buck reminds him. Bobby nods, a little abashed, and Athena squeezes his hand. “But now you guys have considered the consequences of your actions, and we can move on.”

All of them give him a pointed, reproachful look and the similarity in the expression across their faces definitely speaks to the fact they all spend way too much time together.

“What?” he asks. “Someone in the station has to and we all know it’s never gonna be me.”

At that, the tension breaks. The boys are hugged and given claps on the shoulder and Bobby’s prepared feast is shared in good cheer.

When they finally get home that night, Athena makes it all the way until they’re in bed before she starts laughing again.

“What?” Bobby asks, starting to laugh with her even though he doesn’t know why yet.

She kisses him, still laughing, and pillows her head on his chest. “Those boys got you so good.”

* * *

Eddie’s suggestion that perhaps Buck _not_ pepper him with hickeys before their next shift has gone entirely unheeded, but Eddie can’t really say he minds. He has sort of missed the good-natured ribbing their friends would’ve given them had they known from the word go.

When they get to the loft, they are immediately greeted by Chimney wolf-whistling and saying, “Damn, Diaz, looks like you got mauled by a wild animal.”

Buck inclines his head slightly like a bow of thanks.

“You should see the other guy,” Eddie recommends, and Chim and Hen stare at Buck like they’re trying to x-ray whatever’s under his uniform shirt.

Buck laughs when Chimney hooks a finger into the collar of his shirt and tries to look down it. “Get off me or I’ll tell my sister you switched Buckleys.”

Eddie and Hen laugh at that and he heads for the coffee pot. He discovers Bobby crouching behind the kitchen island, avidly checking on a baking something or other that smells like sugar and cinnamon and pecans.

“That coffee cake, Cap?” Eddie asks, pouring himself and Buck cups of coffee.

“In celebration,” Bobby says.

Buck joins them in the kitchen and as Eddie hands him a mug, Chimney and Hen pick up the conversation they’d been having before they arrived.

“No, because it’s gotta have an if clause in it, and if we go with the first one, then that’s way too many variables,” Hen says. “It can’t just be ‘when are they getting engaged’, because you’ve gotta have the ‘ _if_ they get engaged, then _when_ ’ and that just leaves a very broad field.”

“Are you guys serious?” Buck asks.

“We’re leaving uncertainty and telling you about it,” Chimney says at the same time Hen asks, “What makes you think we’re talking about you?”

When she hears what Chimney’s said, she gives him a disappointed look. He shrugs, unconcerned.

“Okay fine, so ‘ _if_ they get engaged, who’s going to propose?’” Chim says.

“Fine, fine,” Hen says, scratching this down on her betting ledger.

Eddie shakes his head in disbelief, but he’s secretly a little glad. It’ll be nice having them tease about it when _everyone’s_ in on the joke.

“You gonna do anything about them, Cap?” he asks as Bobby stands up with the very aromatic coffee cake in hand.

Bobby looks between Eddie and Buck, and then over to Hen and Chimney.

In an exasperated tone, Bobby says, “Come on, guys.”

“Sorry, Cap,” Hen and Chimney say.

Buck starts to say, “thank you,” but Bobby isn’t done.

“You know these two are gonna do something stupid like propose at the same time,” Bobby says.

While Chimney cackles, Hen asks, “Is that your official bet?”

Bobby nods and hands her a twenty-dollar bill.

“At least they’re happy for us?” Buck suggests.

“I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty happy for us too,” Eddie says. Even though he knows it just came out of the oven and is not an edible temperature, he still reaches over to steal some of the crumble from the top of the coffee cake. He burns his fingers and swears to himself and when he looks back over at Buck, Buck is watching him a soft expression that makes Eddie’s heart swell.

“I love you so much,” Buck says.

Eddie gets as far as “I love y—” before Chimney explodes, “Oh come on! Look at their freaking faces! Why the hell would we possibly have to put an ‘if’ clause in the bet?”

All five of them are still laughing by the time the bell goes.

**Author's Note:**

> "But Hayley, did anyone actually win the bet?? If no one had that day, why would they even have to do this????" 
> 
> TK won. They will never tell him this. 
> 
> "But Hayley, you can't buy a house in a month! There's escrow! This isn't how real estate works! This isn't how any of this works!"   
> I was born in the '90s, do you think I will ever actually purchase a house? In _California???_
> 
> \--  
> Please come cry with me about these stupid completely platonic heterosexual best friends who are coparenting a child on [tumblr.](http://hmslusitania.tumblr.com)
> 
> Fun fact, because my tumblr runs entirely on a queue, it has yet to spit out a single reblogged 9-1-1 post. These will start displaying on my blog on - I shit you not - April Fools Day. :D


End file.
